NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

INCIDENTS

Redwood N&SPs

Quake Rocks Parts Of Park, Causing Minor Damage

On Saturday, January 9th, an earthquake struck the northern California coast just southwest of Eureka. The 6.5 temblor was felt widely in northern California and southern Oregon, with some reports of shaking felt as far as Reno, Nevada. The southern end of Redwood National Park is located approximately 35 miles north of Eureka, in the town of Orick. The park maintains its southern headquarters in Orick, as well as some shared office space in Arcata. The Arcata office is within 30 miles of the earthquake epicenter. Many of the employees who work in Orick and Arcata live in communities around Humboldt Bay, which were most impacted by the quake. The office buildings in both Orick and Arcata suffered no structural damage from the quake. Two computer servers, one each in Arcata and Orick, were damaged, though, with one needing to be replaced. The other was repaired. Two computers that were operating during the quake were also damaged. One, a laptop, was damaged beyond repair, as the ground motion damaged the internal components (i.e. motherboard). The other was repaired and is back in service. The quake had varying impacts on employees living in the area near the epicenter. Those in Eureka almost unanimously reported this quake to be very severe and extremely frightening - and many of them have lived most of their lives in California and are no strangers to earthquakes. Most if not all the employees living in Eureka suffered material damage within their homes, with items flying off shelves or toppling over onto the floor. One reported finding all of her kitchen knives spread out on the floor throughout her kitchen, having been ejected from the knife block in which they were stored. Fortunately, none of these employees or their family members were injured, nor did any report structural damage to their property. Farther away in Arcata and McKinleyville, park employees reported the shaking as being scary, but not as severe as what has been described in Eureka. For folks in these communities, hardly any items toppled over and damage was minimal to non-existent. This was the largest quake in the region since 1992. It did not generate a tsunami because the motion on the fault was horizontal and therefore did not cause any significant sea floor displacement. There's about a four in five chance of a strong and possibly damaging aftershock occurring within the seven day period following the quake - that is, through this Friday. [Leonel Arguello, Resource Management]

Saguaro NP

Cactus Poachers Sentenced

Two men have been found guilty of cactus poaching in the park in 2007 and have been sentenced in federal court. A federal judge in Tucson sentenced J.T., 50, to eight months in federal prison, and his co-defendant, G.J.M., 42, to six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service. Upon release, both will be placed on supervised probation for a term of 36 months. The two men previously pled guilty to violations of the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking in plants and animals collected in violation of any law, treaty, or regulation of the United States, or in violation of any Indian tribal law. Saguaros are also protected under Arizona's native plants law. Saguaros are vulnerable to loss or damage from theft, vandalism, development, off-road vehicles and air pollution because of their slow reproduction and rate of growth, which makes nursery propagation difficult. On January 12, 2007, G.J.M. and J.T. removed two saguaro cacti from within the park's boundaries. On that day, rangers discovered several saguaros had been dug up and cached for later transport. A total of 17 mature saguaros had been dug up, two from within the park and 15 from adjacent private and public lands. The saguaros ranged from five to eight feet in height. As a result of the investigation, G.J.M. and J.T. were identified as having removed the saguaros from the park and transporting them in a truck owned by G.J.M.. “This activity will not be taken lightly,” said Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. “This is one of the longest sentences ever for cactus rustling in this district.” The case came to a successful conclusion due to outstanding investigative work and case management, along with a supportive U.S. Attorney's Office. Todd Austin (now at Lake Mead) was the original investigating ranger, and district ranger Robert E. Stinson was the case agent. [Bob Love, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Independence NHP - The park and the city of Philadelphia, working with guidance from an oversight committee, will be delaying the opening of the President's House site - location of the nation's executive mansion during the years of the federal presidency in Philadelphia - until this coming fall.

Wilderness Stewardship - The Wilderness Stewardship and Park Planning and Special Studies Divisions in Washington, in cooperation with the regional wilderness coordinators, has announced the launch of "Together Wild," a collaborative wilderness stewardship planning initiative.

Yosemite NP - Tom Pimentel has retired after 32 years of federal service. A retirement is planned in El Portal on January 15th.

NPS Alumni - Dave Butts, 79, retired career NPS employee and former chief of the NPS Branch of Fire Management in Boise, passed away at his home in Sandpoint, Idaho, on Tuesday, January 5th. Photo.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):

NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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